How e-cigarettes can kill your computer

Nov

You know that e-cigs are here to stay when one of Oxford’s words of the year is ‘vape’. With an ever increasing market that is bombarded by all forms of competitors, there are some dodgy manufacturers out there that might hardwire malware into the USB charger.

There are different ways of recharging an e-cig; most of which involve a USB port. The USB can be plugged in through a specialized cable and then plugged into the wall; plugged into the computer or skipping the wire, and plugging directly into the computer. Once you plug an infected e-cigarette into your computer, you are basically granting the supplier access to it.

The guardian mentioned a report on reddit which stated that “One particular executive had a malware infection on his computer from which the source could not be determined,” the user writes. “After all traditional means of infection were covered, IT started looking into other possibilities.”

“The made in China e-cigarette had malware hardcoded into the charger, and when plugged into a computer’s USB port the malware phoned home and infected the system.”

Dave Goss, of London’s Vape Emporium, says that vapers can remain safe by buying from respected manufacturers such as Aspire, KangerTech and Innokin, and by checking for “scratch checkers” on the box, which mark out authentic goods from counterfeits.

KangerTech’s authentication process through “scratch checkers” refers to “All genuine KangerTech products are packaged with this sticker on the outside along with printed instructions inside each and every box. This sticker has a scratch-off with a product code under it.”